Nuclear fuel made for the HFR research reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, by Russia’s Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP), part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s Fuel Company TVEL, on 31 October passed qualifying tests in the reactor. NCCP director general Mikhail Zarubin said on 3 November that NCCP and Dutch Nuclear Research and consultancy Group Petten (NRG Petten) are now looking to expand co-operation.
NCCP and NRG Petten signed a four-year contract for the supply of Russian-made low-enriched nuclear fuel plates of Russian production for HFR in November 2014. For Rosatom, this offers access to overseas markets for this type of fuel for western design research reactors, which were previously closed to Russia.
NCCP, which was established in 1949 to process uranium raw materials, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of nuclear fuel for NPPs and research reactors in Russia and elsewhere. Currently, approximately 6% of the total installed capacity of nuclear power reactors worldwide use fuel produced by NCCP.
